New Year's Decorations - Istanbul Style

In my normal life I live in the suburbs where opportunities for night photography are limited, but thanks to Kat and her frequent posts and tips on night photography, I've been looking for more opportunities to experiment. The short days that go along with this time of year - and living a little closer to Istanbul's center means I've had more opportunities than usual to test my skills. It is clear I still have a lot to learn, but I've enjoyed the process.

When the holiday lights and decorations started to go up here I was a bit confused. I knew Christmas wasn't widely celebrated so I couldn't figure out why there were holiday decorations everywhere we went. A few questions later I knew it was for the New Year's celebration - which over the years has adopted more and more of the customs that I typically think of belonging to Christmas.

Are you picking a word for the year? Setting some resolutions? I felt like picking a word for 2011 (present) worked well for me - it stayed in the back of my mind and guided my decisions and actions in a positive way. I wasn't even sure I was going to pick a word this year, and then last week as I was doing my daily round of blog reading I found my word - deliberate.

I'm an easy going person, which works well for me since work requires me to move frequently and to adapt to new places, cultures and projects. But it also means that I can get into the habit of letting life just flow along. This year I want to be more deliberate in my choice and see if I can guide my life in the direction I want it to go instead of just coasting along with life.

How about you? Have you picked a word? Set some resolutions?

Here's a little Death Cab, "The New Year."


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